Just ordered 3 TI High Efficiency chips. TPS63020

[Lonnie Lepp]

TPS63020 - High Efficiency Single Inductor Buck-Boost Converter with 4A Switch

• Input Voltage Range: 1.8V to 5.5V
• Adjustable Output Voltage Options from 1.2V to 5.5V
• All Two-Cell and Three-Cell Alkaline, NiCd or NiMH or Single-Cell Li Battery Powered Products
• device Quiescent Current less than 50μA

This will be my most ambitious mod yet.
Just completed my first Puck
Working on a Puck Camper

Then going to condense the Puck Camper by using 3 each 2 AA boxes glued together
and making it Variable voltage

After that I am going to try this chip with 3 AA nimh's or 2 C cell NIMH

This has become a great hobby, beats building model air planes, They tend to crash or fly off.

As always everyone's comments have helped me in some way to get better at this awesome Mod Building Hobby.


Lonnie
Wife says to husband, " Not EVERYTHING can be made into mod! Put that back where you found it."

 

[jimbalny]

Looks interesting. Taking a look at the footprint, 4.15mm/3.15mm dimensions. Tiny little surface mount contacts to solder, interested in seeing the result! Haven't been adventurous enough to try and design for something so tiny maself.

 

[Rader2146]

Skill level for that chip is somewhere between advanced and Stark Industries.

 

[jimbalny]

Didnt know people still messed with nimh/nicad for ecig modding, I have a 7.4v 1200mah nicd rc battery i got from radioshack on clearance that i still havent decided what to do with. I can relate with the "not everything can be turned into an ecig" statement, Im a bit of a hoarder when it comes to any electronic parts and doodads, though my skill level is improving with electronics and im starting to reach the tipping point where i will eventually fix more than i break going to make a new policy for myself - use it within 6 months or figure out what it will be used for or scrapyard it.

 

[TomCatt]

ThePuck with the Puck mod has a fair number of followers around here , just sayin'

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[Lonnie Lepp]

I figured on mounting the chip on a stripper board and that would make working with the small leads more doable.

If it does not work out I am out only the time and parts. The chip I got as a sample.

My concern was to use as low a voltage as possible with as high an efficiency as possible thru a 2 plus amp board to stabilize the vaping characteristics , NIMH are 1.2 V batteries that come off the charge at 1.5 and some change.

I run 4 NIMH AAA, 800 mAh batteries for 30 minutes straight on a 2.7 ohm 10 watt resistor.
The batteries tested out at about .9 volts at that time

My puck runs about a day or so when I have to change the batteries.

 

[jimbalny]

ThePuck with the Puck mod has a fair number of followers around here , just sayin'

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Checked out the Puck Camper, looks preetty cool. I've been so stuck on lithium for my designs, maybe its time to expand ma horizons

I figured on mounting the chip on a stripper board and that would make working with the small leads more doable.

If it does not work out I am out only the time and parts. The chip I got as a sample.

My concern was to use as low a voltage as possible with as high an efficiency as possible thru a 2 plus amp board to stabilize the vaping characteristics , NIMH are 1.2 V batteries that come off the charge at 1.5 and some change.

I run 4 NIMH AAA, 800 mAh batteries for 30 minutes straight on a 2.7 ohm 10 watt resistor.
The batteries tested out at about .9 volts at that time

My puck runs about a day or so when I have to change the batteries.

SparkFun sells SMD/QFN breakout boards, maybe they have one in a 16 pin config. "as low a voltage as possible with as high an efficiency as possible" is definitely a challenge. But its the challenges that we take on that builds character/knowledge the mostest

Btw, are you using two or three in series? I would definitely consider using more in series than parallel, because even though mAh goes up in parallel - the efficiency goes up with higher volts. like a 2x 18500 switching step down mod would last a day, whereas i go through 3 or 4 of the same batteries a day in a boost mod.

 

[Lonnie Lepp]

I run the batteries in series, higher voltage, same mAh as one battery, all batteries must be matched.

My hope is to run 3 batteries in a pac, wired in series and 2 pacs wired in parallel


Higher mAh that way
6 batteries total

two 3 AA boxes glued back to back ala Puck and a 2 AA box glued to the tall narrow end to house circuit and a Rebuildable Stardust. The stardust will allow me to experiment with different resistances til I find the sweet spot

 

[Lonnie Lepp]

Well I certainly learned something today when my 3 chips came in.

I can't even see the pins.

If I dropped these guys in my carpet I would never find them.

So back I go to look for something physically larger and low voltage and efficient.

Ya'll call this one on the money

I understand fractions of inches better than metric

Yikes.

If someone wants these little guys, let me know, I'll mail them to ya

 

[Rader2146]

I'll take em off your hands Lonnie. I think I have a line on a breakout board that might work with a little modification. Finding a 3x4 QFN-14 board isnt looking good, but a 16 or 20 might work. It will make a fun "little" project.

If I get one running, I'll send it back your way.

 

[Lonnie Lepp]

I'll take em off your hands Lonnie. I think I have a line on a breakout board that might work with a little modification. Finding a 3x4 QFN-14 board isnt looking good, but a 16 or 20 might work. It will make a fun "little" project.

If I get one running, I'll send it back your way.

PM on the way.